This written portion of the Thesis Project helps students to analyze their working process and its results, as well as inform future work. While the length and style of the written thesis may vary, the paper should contain: an identification of the project goals and an analysis of the sources of inspiration; the context in which the work fits into the textile area and larger field of art and design; a description of the working process, techniques, and materials used and their connection to application and end use; and finally, an evaluation of the project. Accompanying the paper will be visual documentation of the project.

Please contact the department for permission to register. This course is a requirement for Graduate Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | MFA Textiles

Rugs and floor-coverings from different counties and cultures, both historical and contemporary, will be shown as examples of how material and design are developed within a cultural and functional context. This will serve as a foundation for students to develop their own vision and sources of inspiration. Each student will design and execute a woven rug intended for a specific use and/or space. Students will learn to set up the loom and will experiment with a variety of rugmaking techniques for both flat and pile surfaces. Exploration with a wide range of materials, from wool to reeds to plastics, are encouraged to find new solutions for each project. Special yarn dyeing techniques will be taught as a way to expand the range of color effects.

Elective

Rugs and floor-coverings from different counties and cultures, both historical and contemporary, will be shown as examples of how material and design are developed within a cultural and functional context. This will serve as a foundation for students to develop their own vision and sources of inspiration. Each student will design and execute a woven rug intended for a specific use and/or space. Students will learn to set up the loom and will experiment with a variety of rugmaking techniques for both flat and pile surfaces. Exploration with a wide range of materials, from wool to reeds to plastics, are encouraged to find new solutions for each project. Special yarn dyeing techniques will be taught as a way to expand the range of color effects.

Elective

Starting with making their own screens, students in this introductory course will learn various stencil making and printing of repeats using water based dyes and pigments. In addition to considering the screen a tool merely to reproduce an existing design from paper, students are encouraged to think of it as a flexible means for creating totally new designs through experimentation at the print table.

Elective

Students work independently to develop ideas, materials and processes in preparation for the spring semester degree and thesis projects. The work is self initiated and self directed. Students meet as a group on a weekly basis.

Please contact the department for permission to register. Enrollment is limited to Textiles Students.

Major Requirement | BFA, MFA Textiles

Transitional spaces are areas that exist between different environments, states, or land uses. Dynamic and liminal, they are shaped by a diverse array of factors, from climate change to gentrification and urban redevelopment. In this 4-week course, students will explore various transitional spaces in Mexico City and its surroundings to create a series of experimental short films that reflect on the evolving nature of these environments, their impact on local communities, and the broader socio-environmental phenomena at play. Simultaneously, they will engage in critical thinking about the changing urban landscape by engaging with readings and films dealing with questions of borders, Third Spaces, human-nonhuman interaction, colonial histories of photography and filmmaking, capitalist and decolonial ideas of time and space, nature of being, and cyborg and other feminist ontologies. 

Born and raised in Mexico City, Associate Professor of Design (EFS) Adela Goldbard has deep roots in the city's artistic landscape. Having developed her career in this vibrant metropolis where she continues to actively engage with its contemporary arts community, institutions, and initiatives. Her work has been featured in solo exhibitions at prominent venues and galleries across the city, including Casa del Lago, Centro de la Imagen, Poliforum Cultural Siqueiros, and Galería Enrique Guerrero. Goldbard’s extensive connections with artists, scholars, curators, gallerists, and critics in Mexico City will be invaluable for the proposed course, as many would be eager to contribute to its success. The co-teaching by Ijlal Muzaffar will prove invaluable for exploring how change is imagined, controlled and subverted in peripheral spaces. Ijlal holds a PhD in architectural history of modernism in the Global South and has published extensively on politics of Third World development and globalization in the post WWII era. His recent book, Modernism’s Magical Hat: Architecture and the Illusion of Development without Capital (University of Texas Press, 2024) charts how different modes and mediums of imagining change, from architectural design to film and photography, make only certain ways of imagining the past and the future appear natural and viable while erasing all others.

This course is a co-requisite. Students must also register for IDISC 1565 - *MEXICO: MEXICO CITY: EXPERIMENTAL FILMMAKING AS RESEARCH - SENSING TRADITIONAL SPACES.

Registration is not available in Workday. All students are required to remain in good academic standing in order to participate in the Wintersession travel course/studio. A minimum GPA of 2.50 is required. Failure to remain in good academic standing can lead to removal from the course, either before or during the course. Also in cases where Wintersession travel courses and studios do not reach student capacity, the course may be cancelled after the last day of Wintersession travel course registration. As such, all students are advised not to purchase flights for participation in Wintersession travel courses until the course is confirmed to run, which happens within the week after the final Wintersession travel course registration period.

Elective

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA

This is a required course for all first year students to introduce them to global modern and contemporary art, architecture and design in the period between 1750 and the present. The course addresses modernism as a global project, presenting several case studies from across the world that unfold to show how multiple kinds of modernism developed in different times and distant places. By presenting alternate, sometimes contradictory stories about modern and contemporary art and design, along with a set of critical terms specific to these times and places, the class aims to foster a rich, complex understanding of the many narratives that works of art and design can tell. With this grounding, students will be well positioned to pursue their interests in specialized courses in subsequent semesters.  

First-year students are pre-registered for this course by the Liberal Arts Division. Continuing Sophomore, Junior, and Senior undergraduates may be preregistered by the Division on request, or should register for an evening section.

The course is not required for incoming transfer students but is open to and recommended for any who have not previously taken a course on the history of modern art or who wish to develop a deeper understanding of the field.

Major Requirement | BFA